The Bengals have won 10 or more games in the two seasons Joe Burrow has stayed healthy.
We are now about to have NFL football every Sunday until the week between conference championships and the Super Bowl. How good of a feeling is that?
The hope is many of those Sundays will include wins for the Cincinnati Bengals, who, when healthy, are easily a 10+ win team.
The Athletic released Austin Mock’s NFL betting model with win projections for all 32 teams. Ten thousand simulations of the 2024 season were run to produce the model and win projections.
The Bengals checked in with the fifth-highest projection at 10.2, just a tick behind the Ravens at 10.3. Paul Dehner Jr., the Bengals beat write for The Athletic, had this to say about the ranking:
“The Bengals had a fully healthy Joe Burrow for just five-and-a-half games last year. Their defense looked nothing like its previous self without Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell. They played one of the toughest schedules in the league. Very little went right. They still won nine games. A projection of 10.2 is solid, but I’d be more comfortable going over than under. They have questions, no doubt, but they added veteran safeties, the schedule appears dramatically easier, the offensive line is as solid as Burrow has played behind. As long as Burrow is healthy (all signs are good) with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins outside, 10 wins feels like the floor.”
In those five games with a fully healthy Burrow, the Bengals went 4-1. That stretch included wins over the 49ers and Bills.
Vonn Bell is back, and the Bengals bolstered their secondary by signing safety Geno Stone on the first day of free agency. Stone has seven interceptions in 2023.
The last time the Bengals had a fourth-place schedule, they were less than 90 seconds away from winning the Super Bowl. Cincinnati is a better team going into this season than they were in 2021. Let that help you make your decision on this projection.
